WC Wisconsin News

Eau Claire's Sherman Elementary School is home to a new book vending machine that allows students to have their choice of reading material.

Every book in the machine costs one taken, library media specialist Theresa Paine told WQOW recently. Students can earn a token when it's their birthday; or if the class earns a thousand 'stars' for positive behavior, everyone in the class gets a token.

Paine said she and another teacher got the idea for the venture from another school. The goal of the program is to encourage more students to read, the hope being that allowing them to choose what they want to read may pay dividends.

With the school having more than a few low-income families in the district, not all kids can afford a brand-new book, let alone one they can keep forever, Paine told WQOW.

"To be able to make sure that each kid will get at least two brand-new books just for them every year was something that was really an important idea to us," she said. "It's something that we can make sure we're able to provide for everybody regardless of what their home or background is."

With the machine coming at a cost of $5,500, Title 1 funds were used to cover the purchase, the news report said. School officials said they plan to apply for various grants to pay for more books going forward.